With all the recent news and media coverage discussing the Duke student’s PowerPoint “Sex List” (what she titled a Thesis), almost all of the discussion is missing one important point:
A RAPE appears to be described in her PowerPoint presentation.
One of the sexual encounters she writes about is when she is “blacked out.” Because she has no memory, she could have been passed out or blacked out. Either way, she was incapable of giving consent to sexual activity. She is almost positive they had sex based on the her body (including the many bruises she found from what she assumes was very “aggressive” sex).
As you hear people talking about this disturbing PowerPoint presentation (and yes it is concerning on MANY levels), engage people on this point and see how they react. Ask individuals, “Why do you think no one is talking about this rape?”
If you read the PowerPoint presentation, you will notice MANY of the encounters appear to be alcohol facilitated.
Why do you think no one is talking about at least one potential sexual assault in this PowerPoint presentation? Do you think people have no compassion for her because she treated sex like a season of “American Idol” (scoring the contestants in various categories)? She is NOT the first. She is simply the first FEMALE to gain public attention from doing so.
As Wendy Murphy has pointed out, the former website JuicyCampus had many, many examples of males doing exactly what the female at Duke was doing. At the time of JuicyCampus, many in society DID NOT seem to feel the women being “scored” or “rated” by the males breached legal privacy rights. When males were doing it, many people defended the behavior as “freedom of speech.” Personally, I find BOTH CASES to be wrong (JuicyCampus AND the current Duke student’s PowerPoint). FYI: From what I’ve been told, JuicyCampus was shut down due to privacy concerns.
Remember to discuss the sexual assault described in the PowerPoint presentation. Share your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below.